Retail sale of marijuana gets the boot

Monday night's La Junta City Council meeting drew a full house of council members and city officials to attend the second reading of an ordinance regarding the sale of marijuana in the city of La Junta. The vote was five for, two against prohibiting sale of marijuana.

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By Bette McFarren

LA Junta Tribune - La Junta, CO

By Bette McFarren

Posted Aug. 7, 2013 at 5:00 PM

By Bette McFarren

Posted Aug. 7, 2013 at 5:00 PM

Monday night's La Junta City Council meeting drew a full house of council members and city officials to attend the second reading of this ordinance:

"An ordinance of the City of La Junta, Colorado, prohibiting the acceptance, processing and approval of applications for a use permit of any nature, variance, building permit, business license, sales tax license or other applicable entitlement for use of any property, space or location for an adult-use retail marijuana outlet; prohibiting the establishment of a retail adult-use marijuana outlet in any manner within the city of La Junta; and setting forth other details related thereto." (City Attorney)

The vote was the same as last meeting's first reading: five for, two against. Councilmen Michael Moreno and Eugene Mestas voted against the ordinance.

James McVaney of Larkspur appeared before the council representing Industrial Hemp in Colorado, but also presented a notice of an initiated ordinance to City Clerk Jan Schooley. On Tuesday, Schooley said she has five days to read the document and determine its legality. If it is all right, then it goes to the City Council, who may then vote on it. If the vote is against the ordinance (which is pretty much the opposite of the one they just passed), then McVaney may circulate a petition, which must also be approved, to determine if there will be a special election. To succeed, the petition must have more than 647 signatures of registered voters in the city of La Junta. This figure is determined by 15 percent of the total vote in the last municipal election.

Tim Klob commented on the ordinance, urging the council to take a more realistic view of the situation. He said that the city could impose its own excise tax on the sale of marijuana, and was not limited to 1.5 percent of the state tax. The majority of McVaney's comments were directed not toward recreational marijuana, but toward industrial hemp. He said La Junta would be an ideal location for manufacture of hemp products such as rope, insulation and fabric, not to mention that La Junta has an unused industrial plant.